The time has come for us to rationalize the number of undergraduates that leave Ghana
Everyone is free to study where they like, but can the nation continue to subsidize tertiary education only for huge numbers to continue to leave the shores of Ghana. By so doing continue to stunt the growth of national universities?
For some course it is strategically important to travel and study. Many others also just need the scholarship to survive. Those who do not return immediately after studies should be required to pay a bond equivalent to actual fees for tertiary education in Ghana. About 50,000 ghs annually, this can fund the national fund.
The time has come for us to rationalize the number of undergraduates that leave Ghana. We need to retain some of the best to grow the quality of postgraduate programmes, which is the means by which nations produce intellectual property that drive industrialization.
No one can complain that people have returned from studies abroad and have remained jobless for years, anyone remaining unemployed after graduate studies abroad for years must have a big story going on, otherwise the odds are very low.
We all need to look at the big picture and lend their support. The call is to help the break even with the tertiary education funding. Those days of dire poverty is over so the prospects of people succeeding in graduate school in Ghana is higher now. The challenge now is how to accelerate development by returning some of the best and not force facullties of universities struggling to compete globally to do so with what is left after the best and the brightest have all left the country.
I recently learned that people pay 50,000 GHS a year at Ashesi University, so we can use that as the best estimate of the cost of first degree. Government passed the National research fund bill but it’s silent on it. They don’t know where to find money from their corruption and incompetence to start the operations. So if our brightest and best abroad will be kind enough to refund their education subsidy received, research funding can happen. This will improve the educational system and send more send more out there continue to pay forward into the research fund. At some point the system will get to the quality that will compel people to return and stop moving out in droves.
People raise the point that tertiary education subsidy is funded through taxes that the students pay, but at the time of going to University one's taxes won't amount to much. The one year service to the nation is not up to the cost either. Working for about 10 years might be what will cover the cost. One has do the analysis carefully and gain geninue insights. Some will pay taxes more others less with a period of time. It also depends on the job one does.
It will take a raft of measures and bonding is one of them.yes it will take a raft of measures and bonding is one of them. If the best and the brightest out there can band together and work together on the way forward. It will be nice for the progress of this country.
This piece is in support of the issue raised by Dr. Richard Mintah of University of Ghana. I have also been concerned with the increasing number reference but did not link it to the brain drain issue. Countries like China have the incentives to attract them back but in Ghana the resources to provide incentives is very hard to find.
It must be clarified that the time people spend in training abroad is not what this is about. If people continue to stay abroad after their training then the need to refund their tertiary education subsidy kicks in. They should think of a more direct contribution towards tertiary education in Ghana. More resources will level up the system and stop the brain drain. Thus creating a positive feedback loop is a forward looking idea which can accelerate the process of development of Ghana. Beyond what the indirect social remittances can do.
